The Flash on TV

The Flash was created by
Danny Bilson
and Paul DeMeo
and began its Thursday-night run on CBS in 1990.
Hampered by a bad timeslot and difficulty reaching an audience
outside of comic fans, it was canceled after only one year.

For most of that year, the Flash battled various thieves, drug lords,
terrorists, and assassins. Often his adversaries were high-tech—he
once fought a robot assassin, and even went up against his own clone.
The series also introduced a 1950’s Central City crimefighter, the
Nightshade (Jason Bernard),
who came out of retirement to aid the flash when his old adversary the
Ghost (Anthony Starke) came out
of cryonic suspension and threatened the city.

Late in the season, a few classic Flash villains were adapted for the small screen.
Captain Cold (Michael Champion) became
a hit man with super-freezing tech.
Mirror Master became Sam Scudder (David Cassidy),
a professional thief making extensive use of holograms.
The Trickster (Mark Hamill)
became a psychopath more like the Joker, and was the only villain
to retain his costume in the transition to television. He returned
again to appear in the season finale, along with private investigator
Megan Lockhart (Joyce Hyser).

TV Movies and Videotape

Several episodes of the series were repackaged as TV movies and released on VHS cassette during the 1990s.

The complete series is available on DVD (released January 10, 2006). When first released, Best Buy offered an exclusive edition including a miniature comic book.*

Some copies of the set have problems with the last scene of the pilot skipping, stopping, or even locking up the player. My copy is OK, but TV Shows on DVD explains how to get a replacement if yours is defective.

Because the DVD set does not feature any extras, producers Bilson and DeMeo have produced a commentary track for Episode 22, “Trial of the Trickster,” as a podcast, available through iTunes or from their website.†

* Best Buy initially sold the DVD set with an exclusive comic book included. The comic is a miniature edition of DC First: Superman/The Flash (2002),
cut down to 24 pages from the original 38. (Thanks to Chris Dunham for telling me about the ad.)

** Like the DVD set, this
list is based on the original airing order. However, the episode guide in
The Flash TV Special (1990) lists several episodes in a
different order. In most cases the changes don’t seem to matter,
but in “The Trickster” (aired as #12), one character remarks
on the events of “Tina, Is That You?” (aired as #13).
I’ve switched these two episodes to use the logical order.

All characters are the property of DC Comics and are used here without permission.
This site is in no way affiliated with DC Comics and is provided as a reference guide for fans, by fans.
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